Rob Zombie headed for Mayhem at Comcast Center

When Rob Zombie, then still known as Rob Cummings, was growing up in Haverhill, there were no thoughts of either music or movies as a career. "I just played hockey. That’s all I cared about," he said by phone from San Bernardino, Calif., where he’s rehearsing for a tour that brings him to the Comcast Center in Mansfield on Tuesday, July 16 to headline the Mayhem Festival.

By Ed Symkus/DAILY NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Milford Daily News

By Ed Symkus/DAILY NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Posted Jul. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 11, 2013 at 11:22 AM

By Ed Symkus/DAILY NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Posted Jul. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 11, 2013 at 11:22 AM

MANSFIELD

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First Rob Zombie was a rock star. Then he was a rock star filmmaker.

He formed and sang in the roaring, throbbing band White Zombie. That was in 1985. Then he convinced Hollywood to let him write and direct the grisly and darkly comic horror movie "House of 1,000 Corpses." That was in 2003. Many albums with White Zombie and as a solo act followed, the most recent of which was this year’s "Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor." As did many horror films, the most recent of which was this year’s "The Lords of Salem."

But when Zombie, then still known as Rob Cummings, was growing up in Haverhill, there were no thoughts of either music or movies as a career.

"I just played hockey. That’s all I cared about," he said by phone from San Bernardino, Calif., where he’s rehearsing for a tour that brings him to the Comcast Center in Mansfield on Tuesday, July 16 to headline the Mayhem Festival.

"I’ve loved music since I was a little kid," he said. "The first concert I ever went to was Tiny Tim. I was so young, I remember going but I don’t remember anything about it. I don’t think I even understood what was happening. But I really discovered music in kindergarten, watching ‘The Monkees’ and ‘The Partridge Family’ on TV. But, later, when you’re a teenager, and loving Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper and Kiss, it just doesn’t seem like something you can actually do. It seems like these people were from another planet. It wasn’t till the early ’80s, when I started listening to the Dead Kennedys and punk rock, that it seemed more like you could do it. Like you don’t have to be a rock god to start a band."

His first band was White Zombie. The first bill White Zombie ever played was at New York's CBGB in 1985. But though the band saw a great deal of success, Zombie was already thinking ahead.

"I had also always loved movies," he said. "I wanted to make movies more than music. But again, how do you make movies? I don’t know. Now everyone can make a movie on their iPhone. But back then I didn’t know what it took. So when it came time to make music videos for White Zombie, I said, ‘OK, I’m gonna direct the videos, and cut my teeth on that.’ After doing that for many, many years, that led to the first film."

Now, many more years later, Zombie hasn’t slowed down, and he has "The Devil’s Rejects" as well as both a "Halloween" reboot and its sequel on his directing resumé. But he admits that jumping back and forth between music and film can be a tough balancing act.

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"I try not to break away from either for very long," he said. "Years ago I’d go off and make a movie and be gone for two years, and I wouldn’t even think about music. Then I’d come back to music and it would be very awkward. So I’ve been trying to juggle the two much closer together, and that’s made it easier. You do have to switch modes. But I’m so used to doing it and have been doing it for a while, you start figuring out a way to make it happen."

Yet that wasn’t exactly what happened with "The Lords of Salem," which was released on a Friday, and "Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor," which was released the following Tuesday.

"I hadn’t done anything like that before," he said, almost sheepishly. "But I wanted to get it all happening and done at the same time. I edited ‘Lords of Salem’ at my house, and as soon as I was done editing, we took out the editing equipment and moved in the recording equipment, and started the record. So everything was sort of going all the time. That was the plan. Whether or not it was a good plan, I don’t know. In April, when they both came out, that was when it seemed like it wasn’t the greatest plan in the world. That was a little bit nuts."

But now he’s concentrating on the Mayhem Festival, which is making summer stops across the country.

"We’re headlining, so it’ll be our full, big, giant show," he said. "We’ll do three songs from the new record, because more than that is too much. We’ll do ‘Dead City Radio,’ ‘We’re an American Band’ " – yes, that would be a rare Rob Zombie cover of the Grand Funk Railroad chestnut – and one other song. I want the audience to always be engaged in what’s happening, not thinking, ‘What’s this all about?’ "

When the tour is through, Zombie will get back to work on a project he’s been toiling at for quite a while, and which brings him back to his childhood fascination with hockey.

"I’ve already finished the script for ‘Broad Street Bullies,’ " he said. "So right now it’s in that phase of early production where we’re putting the financing together and talking about casting. It’s the least glamorous, least fun phase of it all."

It’s Zombie’s first non-horror film, and tells the true story of the 1974 Philadelphia Flyers, a team that was so rugged, it supposedly put fear into the hearts of other teams.

"It’s an insane story," he said. "All the players on that team figure pretty big in it, from Dave Schultz and Bobby Clarke to Bernie Parent and the coach, Fred Shero ... especially Fred Shero."

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As an afterthought, Zombie added, "And Bobby Orr looms large in the script."